


The Water Shone Clear

by samsarapine



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Blanket Permission, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-14
Updated: 2010-03-14
Packaged: 2017-10-07 23:59:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/70594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samsarapine/pseuds/samsarapine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kouryuu's hands wouldn't come clean.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Water Shone Clear

**Author's Note:**

> Challenge 57: Dawn. 40 minutes allowed; written in 43 minutes.

  
  
  
**Entry tags:** |   
[angsty](http://samsarapine.livejournal.com/tag/angsty), [challenge: saiyuki_time](http://samsarapine.livejournal.com/tag/challenge:%20saiyuki_time), [fic](http://samsarapine.livejournal.com/tag/fic), [kouryuu](http://samsarapine.livejournal.com/tag/kouryuu), [pg-13](http://samsarapine.livejournal.com/tag/pg-13), [saiyuki](http://samsarapine.livejournal.com/tag/saiyuki)  
  
---|---  
  
_**Fic: "The Water Shone Clear", Kouryuu, PG-13, gen**_  
**Title:** The Water Shone Clear   
**Author:** [](http://samsarapine.livejournal.com/profile)[**samsarapine**](http://samsarapine.livejournal.com/)  
**Rating:** PG-13   
**Pairing:** None  
**Warning:** Spoilers for Sanzo's Burial Arc  
**Notes:** Challenge 57: Dawn. 40 minutes allowed; written in 43 minutes.  
**Summary:** Kouryuu's hands wouldn't come clean.

Written for [](http://community.livejournal.com/saiyuki_time/profile)[**saiyuki_time**](http://community.livejournal.com/saiyuki_time/) Challenge #57: Dawn.

Kouryuu's hands wouldn't come clean.

The water shone clear in the basin, but his master's blood had leaked in, to the bone, to the heart of Kouryuu's soul, nestled there with his incompetence and the damned bloody _helplessness_ that had led to his master's death, the power and knowledge that his ego had rested on so comfortably gone with Koumyou Sanzo's breath.

_"It's up to you now, Genjyo Sanzo."_

Which was stupid, and senseless, because nothing was up to Kouryuu. He was too weak, weaker really than all of the stupid monks in the temple, the ones who poked at bears with sticks and poked at him with words. And they were weak, and strong with it, and he'd been strong, and weak in that strength.

The Maten sutra rustled beside him on the futon. He blinked, startled, and frowned at the mass of cloth and ink.

_"…If you meet…"_

The sutra rustled again.

_"…If you meet the Buddha, kill him…"_

Kouryuu caught his breath. He touched the chakra on his forehead, still raw and burning from the gods' blessing.

_If you meet the Buddha…_

They'd met. The Buddha had touched him.

Mouth dry, he picked the sutra up. It was heavy. His master had borne it on his shoulders, but the thought of the cloth that had pressed against his master's skin pressing against his own made his blood run cold. He could feel tremors running through it, could feel its fury at his weakness, the weakness that had allowed its master to be killed and its mate to be taken. It demanded reparation; he could feel its cold judgement holding him responsible for bearing its weight and righting the mistakes he'd made.

And the bloody Buddha had touched him, blessed his weakness even as his master lay dying at Kouryuu's feet.

And as suddenly as that, anger burned in Kouryuu's heart. He'd gladly kill the Buddha next time they met.

The sutra stopped rustling and waited.

_"It's up to you, Genjyo Sanzo."_

Genjyo Sanzo.

And it hit him: Kouryuu, the lucky, foolish, weak little egotistical child had died already, taken by a whispered name and the touch of a god, and left in that stupid boy's place an empty, weak man born solely to mount a quest for vengeance and retribution.

The sutra came alive and sank into his soul and choked him and he welcomed its anger and held it close. He would never let it go, not until his mission was complete.

But he didn't deserve to wear it across his shoulders, where people could see it and make stupid, ignorant assumptions about his soul. No, it would stay next to his heart, whispering to him, driving him forward when he was weak.

It was cold inside him, cold and deep as the blood of Koumyou Sanzo, seeped into his bones.

He welcomed it.

Tucking it into his robe, he stood and wrapped a bandage around his wound.

"Kouryuu? The Head Priest would like to see you."

Genjyo Sanzo huffed, his first breath.

But not his last.

*****

 

The gun gleamed, pure as the water in the basin and just as deceptive.

He picked it up.

It fit his hand, cold and hard as his master's bones. Cold. Hard.

Bone.

The pressure of the barrel against his temple was even lighter than the pressure of one finger on the trigger, the touch of either strong enough to break his pathetic body and seal the fate of his weak and pitiful soul.

But first, he had a task to finish.

Genjyo Sanzo turned his back on the east and took his first step.


End file.
